History Main / PoliteVillainsRudeHeroes

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3442555/1/Street-Sharks-Redux Street Sharks Redux]]'', this just about sums up every interaction between [[MadScientist Dr.]] [[BigBad Paradigm]] and [[WesternAnimation/StreetSharks the protagonists]] in a nutshell.

* ''[[Film/Ghost1990 Ghost]]'' has this dynamic between Sam and [[spoiler:[[BigBadFriend Carl]]]] after the former discovered he was killed by him to fulfill a debt for the mob over the four million dollars.

* Mandi and Tyler in ''Film/MeanGirls2''. Only those two, however; Mandi's horrible to everyone else.

* Mandi and Tyler in ''Film/MeanGirls 2''. Only those two, however; Mandi's horrible to everyone else.

* Subverted in ''[[Film/ReadyPlayerOne Ready Player One]]'', since the film is set in a [[SirSwearsALot profane-littered environment]], though the main character is the most foul-mouthed known character, while the main villain, the director of OASIS, is not as foul-mouthed, even though he did cuss a few times. In the film, this trope should be referred to as "Least Rude Villain, Most Rude Hero".

Or, from a storyteller perspective, it can just be due to simple CatharsisFactor. After all, it's fun to get to spit your defiance in Evil's face! Having Evil spit right back would just ruin it. Though if the villains are more sympathetic enough, the heroes will attempt to SaveTheVillain in the end of the climax.

** While Trunks, Goten, Abo and Kado, the main combatants of ''Anime/YoSonGokuAndHisFriendsReturn'', are all polite, the same cannot be said of their FusionDance products Gotenks and Aka. Gotenks is ruder than Goten and Trunks while Aka is more polite than Abo and Kado. Aka also has little regard for the lives or property of bystanders not involved in his affairs, which ticks off Gotenks.
* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' has Edward Elric, the bratty teenage genius protagonist who's brash, short-tempered, and swears quite a bit. He is constantly calling his opponents (and his own father) "bastard" and "third-rate novice". In contrast, the main villain, Father, heals his broken arm, inquires after his health and family, and allows Ed to live and continue his journey while he casually plans the [[spoiler:death of over 50 million people]]. The Fuhrer of Amestris, King Bradley, even invites Edward and his brother Alphonse to tea. There's also Solf J. Kimblee, the Crimson Alchemist, a mass-murdering psychopath who treats Edward's mechanic, Winry Rockbell, with genuine respect and kindness while politely asking Ed to [[spoiler:stage a massacre at Fort Briggs]]. She doesn't even realize she's a hostage without being told. And of course, Shou Tucker is a very welcoming and jovial man and also happens to be a MadScientist who [[spoiler:turned his own wife and daughter into Chimeras]], something Ed wastes no time beating him up over once he finds out.

* In ''Manga/MuhyoAndRoji'', Muhyo's old friend and schoolmate Enchu was a NiceGuy while they were attending school together. After Enchu loses his mother and gets passed over for the Executor job, he becomes AffablyEvil. Muhyo, however, is a [[BrutalHonesty brutally honest]], [[DeadpanSnarker snarky]] and rude JerkWithAHeartOfGold.

** Kakashi has very tense conversations with Orochimaru and Kabuto on two separate occasions during the Chunin Exam arc, while protecting Sasuke from them. The two are at least outwardly polite, albeit making threatening implications, while Kakashi is brusque and standoffish, knowing that they're untrustworthy.

** Itachi is relatively polite when facing off against Asuma, Kurenai and Kakashi before the TimeSkip, and against Team 7 and Chiyo after the TimeSkip. His opponents are far less civil to him, considering that Itachi massacred his clan, and Asuma even sarcastically remarks that he doesn't buy Itachi's desire to avoid fighting them. [[spoiler:Of course, considering Itachi's true motives, not only is the "villain" role less certain, but his politeness seems to be out of respect for his former comrades.]]
* ''Anime/PantyAndStockingWithGarterbelt'' {{zigzag|gingTrope}}s this one a bit, although that shouldn't surprise anyone given [[Creator/StudioGainax the show's creators]]. The angels are always contemptuous toward the demons, but said demons alternate -- sometimes mid-conversation -- between subverting this trope, acting respectful, and (extremely rarely) genuinely ''being'' respectful toward the angels. It should be noted that in this setting, Heaven emphasizes freedom while Hell is a tyrannical dictatorship, so LawfulEvil vs ChaoticGood (given our [[NominalHero heroines]], really more ChaoticNeutral) is in full effect.
* ''Manga/SamuraiDeeperKyo'': Kyo himself is a sociopathic, badmouthed BloodKnight who more than once insults his opponents, even after he just butchered them to shreds, and is quite abrasive and obnoxious with his own friends. By contrast, most of the Mibu Elite like the Four Elders and the members of the Goyosei tend to be much more polite, cold and respectful, even the [[BigBad Crimson King]], who comes off as a cultured if megalomaniac tyrant. Subverted with [[UsefulNotes/SanadaYukimura Yukimura]], who's quite polite and civil, and many of the low-tier enemies, who're just as vulgar and rude as Kyo if not worse.
* ''Anime/SCryEd'' [[ZigzaggingTrope plays with]] this one. At first you have the angry, loud-mouthed Kazuma opposing the calm, controlled Ryuhou. [[spoiler:After Ryuhou's HeelFaceTurn]], the main villain is Kyoji Mujo, who is FauxAffablyEvil at first, and then becomes full-blown AxCrazy.
* ''Literature/SwordArtOnline'' ''Progressive'' has Kirito and Morte. Kirito's generally a NiceGuy, but he can be somewhat brusque and rude toward his enemies or people who try his patience. Morte's a FauxAffablyEvil PungeonMaster who jokes around and uses polite speech on Kirito, while threatening to sabotage Kirito's efforts to complete the quest, and planning to kill Kirito during their duel.

** Played with in "Somebody Goofed." The Christian doesn't hesitate to tell the boy that the recently dead overdose victim is going to hell, while the man that turns out to be the Devil in disguise seems to be more compassionate. That said, the other man mocks the Christian, proving that he's not exactly polite, either.

'''Alucard:''' Oh, so am I. And I'm failing. And I'm sorry for that. It's just that I'm so agitated, because this blond little shit stormed into my room, destroyed my 70 inch plasma wide screen TV, and is trying to impress me like I'm his alcoholic father.
* This is one of the main reasons why [[Manga/MyHeroAcademia Izuku Midoriya]] became the titular villain in ''Fanfic/MastermindStrategistForHire''. Society at large is [[FantasticRacism very prejudiced]] and rude to Izuku for his lack of a quirk to the point where he can't even get a minimum wage job, with Bakugo being the epitome of everything that can go wrong with a person and still be considered a prospective hero. Villains, on the other hand, praise and thank Izuku for the criminal plans he creates and willingly pay him what he charges for them [[note]]Granted, the ones who ''do'' try to cheat him out of his fees don't live very long afterward[[/note]]. The {{Villainous Friendship}}s Izuku created are also a factor since they're the first people besides his mom who actually like and respect him. While [[ArmsDealer Giran]] was surprised to learn Mastermind's true identity, he never unfairly judges Izuku for being Quirkless and gifts him with an untraceable laptop so he wouldn't have to risk getting his identity exposed while contacting his clients at internet cafes; Himiko teaches Izuku how to fight with knives without expecting anything except for his friendship in return; even Shigaraki becomes genial with Izuku when he starts using gaming jargon and allows him to stay independent of the League of Villains.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheBadGuys2022'': Before their HeelFaceTurn, the titular Bad Guys are smooth, charming, and polite in contrast to police chief Misty Luggins who is the hot tempered, loud, impolite, and roughish HeroAntagonist of the film.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Coco}}'': The BigBad [[spoiler:Ernesto]] is smooth and appealing in contrast to Hector, the mischievous, snarky and roguish {{Deuteragonist}} of the film.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'': The soft spoken Mother Gothel that [[FauxAffablyEvil acts nice]] to Rapunzel and the DeadpanSnarker and petty thief Flynn Rider.

* ''Film/FindMeGuilty'': DA Kierney, despite fighting for a genuinely good cause to end a good chunk of TheMafia, is very much a SmugSnake in the way he handles himself. Meanwhile, with the exception of their abrasive boss, the mobsters are portrayed as friendly bohemians with a lot of comraderie.

* During the climax of ''Film/DrNo'' the titular main antagonist [[NoMrBondIExpectYouToDine offers James Bond dinner]] and politely explains his evil plan, all while complimenting Bond's skills and even offering the chance to join him. Bond responds to this by insulting him, and as a result he is imprisoned.

* Mandi and Tyler in ''Film/MeanGirls 2''. Only those two however; Mandi's horrible to everyone else.

* ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'': Jigsaw, his disciples and their copycats are generally AffablyEvil criminals (be it genuine or [[FauxAffablyEvil faux]]) who normally refrain from behaving rudely and/or cursing unless they're angered or provoked. Their victims and the law enforcement officers/agents after them, on the other hand, are often impolite and [[SirSwearsALot prone to swearing a lot]], even though they range from {{Nice Guy}}s to {{Jerkass}}es.

* Seen in ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'': Sun Wukong (especially before the CharacterDevelopment kicks in) is very rude, disrespectful, aggressive and short-tempered, while almost all the monsters that he encounters on his journey are surprisingly good-mannered even if man-eating, some of them bordering with NobleDemon.

* In ''[[Literature/TheTwilightSaga Twilight]] Literature/NewMoon'', when Edward, Alice, and Bella are brought before the Volturi, Aro is very pleasant and is perfectly willing to let them off as long as the Cullens agree to have Bella be turned into a vampire to preserve their secrecy. Edward reacts rather rudely, repeatedly making thinly-veiled accusations of Aro being corrupt.

** The show in general. While some monsters are flat-out dicks (such as the crocotta) or non-sentient (such as the wendingo), most demons and sentient monsters tend to be [[FauxAffablyEvil mockingly]] ([[AffablyEvil or even genuinely]]) [[FauxAffablyEvil polite]], while Sam and Dean make very clear their contempt for them.

* ''Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook'': PlayedForLaughs with Captain Todger, who's horrifyingly rude and politically incorrect, whereas his opponent General Drayfox -- acts of proper villainy aside -- is polite, well-mannered and accepting of other lifestyles to an equally ridiculous degree (such as acknowledging that Captain Todger might not necessarily be a man because women can hold ranks and be heroes, and that they will be allowed [[KneelBeforeZod to not kneel before him]] if their religious or ideological convictions go against such things).
* ''Series/TheWalkingDead'': This was a dynamic that got a lot of play between Michonne, who is standoffish, rude, blunt and suspicious, and The Governor, who is polite, courteous, sophisticated, and seemingly reasonable when Michonne and Andrea are in Woodbury. The Governor grows to viscerally despise Michonne after she stabbed out his eye and killed his zombified daughter, however.

* From Music/RhapsodyOfFire there are some, well, interesting lines spoken by the main hero against the BigBad Akron in "The Mighty Ride of the Firelord", including calling him bloody bastard, spit on him and threaten to burn him and ''[[WhatTheHellHero eat his brains]]''. [[spoiler:Granted, he has just [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath raped to death Princess Airin]] and killed the warrior Arwald, but still...]]. They also don't hesitate to refer to the Queen of the Dark Horizon as the "God-forsaken Bitch".

* In the opera ''La Fanciulla del West'', the bandit (love interest of the heroine) is kind, chivalrous, and charming, while the Sheriff of the mining post is a self-absorbed, greedy, would-be adulterer. No surprise on who gets the girl.

* Subverted in ''VideoGame/DMCDevilMayCry'': At first it seems that Mundus is the soft-spoken, polite business man contrasting Dante, who's much more rude and disrespectful than his previous incarnations and will use swearwords often here and there. The subversions comes from later in the game, when we find out that even Mundus isn't above using F-bombs here and there.

** This seems to define the dynamic Edge and Rubicante in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV''. Edge is the 26-year old Prince of Eblan and a Ninja who, while casual and a bit cocky when interacting with the heroes (especially when Rydia's concerned), he displays recklessness and rage against Rubicante for supposedly having a hand on his parents' death. The same Rubicante who is the best example of NobleDemon in the game despite being one of the four Archfiends an a minion of Golbez and Zemus, as he automatically heals the party in both battles with him and claims sharing no responsibility in Dr. Lugae's experiments which involved Edge's parents. In [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIVTheAfterYears the sequel]], Edge can fight Rubicante solo and the demon even yields his cloak for the Ninja to don, implying they patched things up.

* ''VideoGame/LittleGoodyTwoShoes'': Elise Liedl, for a given definition of hero, is an arrogant, [[BrutalHonesty bluntly honest]], and HotBlooded village girl who's first instinct in a disagreement is to hit back as hard as she can, which causes her problems with her fellow villagers, but she also risks her life to save a kidnapped boy and her chosen love interest, and can develop to overcome her flaws. The demon aristocrats and the witch haunting Kieferberg are posh and polite, but are also ravenous, greedy entities who [[ToServeMan eat people]]. This is often shown when Elise speaks directly to them, and the demons speak with manners while Elise openly insults them.

** Benjamin King, the leader of the Vice Kings in the first game. A ScaryBlackMan bent on controlling the entire city, but he comes across as pretty reasonable provided you don't annoy him. At the end of his arc, he even agrees to step down and give the PlayerCharacter the keys to his penthouse before he leaves, and he's trying to put his criminal life behind him. By the time of the fourth game, he succeeds, and ends up becoming the President's Chief of Staff. His CoDragons, Warren Williams and Big Tony Green, are a lot less pleasant to the Saints, largely because Warren's an AngryBlackManStereotype and the Saint Tony spends most of his time interacting with is the afore-mentioned Johnny Gat.

** Philippe Loren, a Belgian ArmsDealer from ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird''. He's the leader of TheSyndicate, and is planning on stretching his territory into Steelport, the Saints' new base of operations, but he's a gentleman, and is willing to let the Saints live if they agree to give him the majority of their celebrity profits. His CoDragons the [=DeWynter=] twins even respect him, and he treats them like his daughters. [[BerserkButton Just don't call him French, or he'll stop being polite]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'': When he is in a good mood, Eustace Strych (a recurring villain) is polite, superficially charming, has stereotypical mannerisms of the highest social status, and speaks in a formal manner; while Jimmy, TheHero, is a blunt, rude boy with NoSocialSkills.

* ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' plays with this. Sector V and the rest of the Kids Next Door can be rather snarky and disrespectful, but can be polite and respectful. The Delightful Children From Down the Lane are polite to all adults and keep the attitude towards their foe, but it is easy to see the hate and malice in their voices. Ironically the Delightfuls aren't above lying to adults and as seen in "Operation Z.E.R.O. they suddenly disobey Father when he suggests working with Numbuh one and Numbuh zero.
* In Book One of ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', [[CorruptPolitician Councilman Tarrlok]] uses charisma and a carefully-cultivated sophisticated persona to bribe, blackmail, and cheat his way to being the most powerful person in Republic City; he doesn't even show off the full extent of his Waterbending prowess until [[spoiler: Korra accosts him at his office after work hours]]. Brash, hot-blooded Avatar Korra struggles with [[NoSocialSkills diplomacy and tact]] due to her sheltered and isolated upbringing, often preferring to solve a dispute through brute force. Korra, however, unlike Tarrlok actually cares about helping the city's citizens rather than treating her position as a vanity project.

* In ''Manga/DeathNote'', Light, the cold and manipulative mass murderer with a bad god complex, is almost always polite and well-mannered; while L, the detective trying to stop him and bring him to justice, is usually very blunt and has little regard for others' feelings.

* ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn2019'': Harley and her friends are AffablyEvil villains, while The Justice League are given an AdaptationalJerkass and are quite harsh to the villains.